


One Shall Reign

by Enquire2001



Category: Reign (TV)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, F/M, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-08-07 14:08:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7717720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enquire2001/pseuds/Enquire2001
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You thought you had been in a car crash, but all of a sudden you wake up in your favorite show. When both brothers develop an interest in you, what shall you do? Only one shall reign.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

        You were sitting in your friend's car, watching as the rain fell along the road as your friend drove. There was music playing, however you were tuning it out. As you were lost in thought, the car abruptly swerved due to another vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road. You snapped out of it when the car slammed into a tree, causing you to slam your head on the dash. Immediately, you felt all consciousness leave you.

~~~~~~~

        When you awoke, your clothes felt much heavier and you could hear a constant tap on the ground outside. You slowly opened your eyes and looked around. You were inside of....a carriage? You looked down and saw you were now wearing a gown. Weird, you thought, wasn't I wearing some shorts and a t-shirt? However, your train of thought was quickly interrupted by a British voice, "(Y/N), I see you're finally awake. We're almost there"

        "Almost where?" Your eyebrows furrowed as you heard your own voice, why do I sound British?   
         
        "Don't be ridiculous (Y/N), you know that we're heading to the French Court"  
          
        "W-wait, French Court?" You looked up at the woman speaking to you and audibly gasped, shocked to see one of your favorite characters come to life before you. This can't be happening, first I show up in this carriage, then I'm going to French Court apparently, and now Mary, the Queen of Scots, is sitting right in front of me.  
          
        She nodded "Yes of course, I insisted you come with me for when I get married to Francis. You being my sister and all..." She chuckled.

        You decided it was best to play along so you acted like you had just simply forgotten "Oh, yes....yes of course. My bad, I suppose I'm still waking up from my nap"

        Mary glanced out the window "Oh look, we're finally here....(Y/N), I'm nervous." You shook your head, "Don't be, you'll be fine. I'm sure Francis will find you absolutely ravishing." She smiled and looked down just as someone opened the door and held a hand out. She took the hand and stepped out of the carriage, while you hesitantly followed. You exhaled slowly, a small stutter in your breath as you smoothed out your dress. You looked around because you felt someone's eyes right on you.

        You finally made eye contact with the person who was looking at you. You were surprised to see it was Bash, looking straight at you. When he noticed that your eyes had met his, he smirked at you. That resulted in you blushing slightly and looking at your feet. Mary had noticed and gave you a questioning look before murmuring to you "Are you alright?" You simply nodded in response and smiled at her. She smiled back and looked away from you as Francis started to walk through the field towards her.

        Currently, you were trying to stay composed as all of the characters you had watched for multiple seasons on a show had come to life before you.  You had, of course, fantasized about meeting them but you always thought the closest you would get to that dream would be to meet the actors and actresses. However, you now realized what would entail if you really were stuck in their universe. 

        Your train of thought was suddenly broken when you noticed Francis was standing directly in front of you. "O-oh...um..h-hello," You silently cursed yourself for being so awkward.

        "Hello...I'm Francis" He took your hand in his and placed a gentle kiss to your knuckles, smiling at you.

        You blushed and smiled back shyly, curtsying slightly before looking at Mary "I'm (Y/N) and this is my sister, Mary" He glanced over at her and his smile almost fell for a second but he kissed her hand as well, "Pleasure to meet you (Y/N)...and Mary"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some thoughts from the reader and Bash

        After meeting Francis for the first time, you and Mary were escorted to where you would be sleeping for the duration of your stay. You were surprised when you saw the room; you knew it'd be nice, however it still shocked you to see the huge bed with superb pillows and blankets made of smooth silk. Mary laughed as she saw you immediately jump face first onto the bed. You laughed along with her as you found yourself reveling the smooth feel of the blanket against your skin.

        You realized that there was only one bed just as the page announced that someone was there to see you two. Mary went to the bedroom door and told the page to allow the person in, which led Bash to walk in. His eyes were immediately drawn to you and you smiled at him. After a few seconds, he realized he was staring and immediately cleared his throat before averting his eyes and speaking, "I was told to um...escort (Y/N) to her room. So if you wouldn't mind following me..."

        You just nodded before walking over to the door, looking behind you, "Are you coming?" You caught him staring once more as he broke out of a daze and nodded. He walked out of the bedroom and you followed. You looked at Bash while you walked, smiling as you thought about all the times you and your friend had watched Reign and she would just roll her eyes whenever you would gush over Bash or Francis. While you missed your friend, you couldn't help but be a little happy that you were in this world. 

        While you were lost in thought, Bash noticed you staring at him. He couldn't help but smirk slightly. He would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in you. However, he knew he would also be lying if he said you hadn't caught his brother's eye as well. He had caught the glances Francis would give you as you passed him in the hallway. He couldn't help feeling slightly jealous because his brother got everything else and he didn't want Francis to get you as well. Bash knew, however, that Francis could never truly have you because he was going to be married to Mary. Hopefully Francis wouldn't be able to convince you to be his mistress one day. He snapped out of it when he realized he was just worrying about hypothetical situations instead of getting to know you.   
          
        He glanced at you and smiled before manning up and talking to you, "Have you enjoyed your time here so far?" He mentally cursed himself for asking such a dumb question.

        You chuckled and looked at him, hoping you would make eye contact with him, "Well...I haven't spent much time here; however, so far nothing bad has happened"

        He nodded and looked at you, averting his eyes quickly when he realized he made eye contact, "Well that's good then, no one has given you trouble right?"

        You shook your head, "No...everyone has been nothing but kind towards me." You looked down and smiled slightly, "Your brother keeps coming up with excuses to 'help' me. It's quite funny actually"

        He chuckled, trying to make it sound real as he clenched his fist thinking: Of course Francis would do anything possible to get to her. He stopped in front of a door, "Well here's your room..anything else you need?"

        You shook your head and smiled at him, "No, I'm good for now. Thanks Bash for showing me to my room." He nodded and smiled back. You looked at him before leaning in and kissing his cheek gently. He looked at you surprised, blushing ever so slightly. You smiled and walked into your room.

        He watched as you shut the door, surprised that you did that. However, he did know that he would do whatever it took to get you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is also posted on quotev on my account so I'm not stealing it in any way (Just letting you know)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Right when you thought your life was taking a turn for the better, something happens that makes you realize that maybe being in your favorite show wasn't the best thing to ever happen to you.

It had been a few days since your encounter with Bash and it was beginning to feel like a tug of war between the two brothers. However, you weren't expecting to be in the middle of it. Every single time you were talking to either Bash or Francis, the other would come up with something to get you over to them instead. It was beginning to get on your nerves because all you wanted was to have a genuine conversation with both of them.

It seemed that your wish would be granted because your page told you Francis wanted to see you in his chambers. You were confused as to why he couldn't request your presence elsewhere; however you were still excited to get to talk to him. You walked to his chambers and told Francis' page to alert him of your presence. It seemed to be less than a minute later when Francis himself opened his door and invited you in. 

You smiled at him before going inside his chambers. You glanced around, slightly shocked at the quality difference between your room and his. It was way more luxurious than your own but you didn't know what you expected, he was the prince here and you were only the sister of a queen in another country. Your eyes met his when you finally stopped looking around the room.

"Francis?" You decided to just get straight to the point.

"Yes (Y/N)?" He walked closer to you.

"You're the one who requested me here...what were you wanting Francis?" You raised an eyebrow.

"Well I was wonderi-" He was cut off by a knock at the door. He looked just as confused as you were while he walked over to the door. When he opened it, he was met by Mary, "Mary? What are you doing here?"

She looked up at him "Well I brought some stones to help with your swords...why won't you let me in?"

He didn't answer and she got concerned "Are you in there with someone?" 

He looked at her coldly and responded with, "Next time you should tell my page that you're here. They're there for a reason" Before Mary could protest, he shut the door in her face. Well that was strange, you thought, I was under the impression that he was in here with a girl he slept with during this scene...wait I'm not supposed to be that girl...am I? Francis turned around and looked at you "I'm sorry about that...I didn't expect her to show up right now"

You shook your head, "Oh, n-no it's fine...Francis why did you request me here?" He walked closer to you while ignoring your question and you backed up, backing into a wall. You looked up at him and he pressed his hands against the wall behind you before glancing down at your lips. You were slightly worried about where this was going as you looked up at him, "F-Francis?" He was leaning closer but at the last second you panicked and ducked under his arms, darting away from him, "I'm s-sorry, I c-can't do this right now..." You left the room, leaving a very confused Francis behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~  
A few minutes later, you realized that tears were starting to well up in your eyes as you walked quickly to your room. You don't know why you were so upset but you couldn't help it, Francis had caught you off guard. You felt as if you were tearing apart two of your favorite characters and you didn't want to. You could see the tension between Bash and Francis rising and you believed it was all your fault. You wanted them to return to being friends, not quarreling brothers. 

Once you thought you were in the clear, you let the tears fall freely. You continued walking to your room, running a hand through your hair and taking a shaky breath in before exhaling softly through your mouth. You could feel the droplets falling down your face as you ran into someone "S-sorry"

"(Y/N)?" You heard one of the voices you really didn't want to hear right now.

"What is it Bash?" You quickly wiped away the tears, trying to pretend you weren't crying a second ago.

"Well you were crying, clearly you didn't see me because you ran into me, and I was concerned" He gently wiped away a tear you missed that was slowly rolling down your cheek. You subconsciously leaned into his touch and closed your eyes, more tears running down your face. He didn't say anything else as he pulled you closer into a hug. You sighed and hugged back, deciding that you just needed to be with someone right now. He gently stroked your hair and murmured, "Do you want to talk about it?"

You shook your head and he nodded, "Okay...I'm here for you when you do want to talk"

You looked up at him, "I n-need to go...I'm honestly just really tired right now"

He looked at you, "You sure you'll be ok?" You nodded and he let you go. You smiled at him slightly before walking back to your room. Once you were in there and had shut the door, you slid down with your back against the door till you were sitting on the floor. You let the tears fall freely once more, thinking: What am I doing? Now I'm carelessly crying in front of Bash. I can't love him and I can't love Francis. It will mess with the story line. I've already messed with the story, I can't mess it up more. I need to make them hate me somehow. Maybe if I treat them like friends they'll take the hint and back off. Once you thought up a plan, you made up your mind: I won't end up with either of them and the plot will return to normal. 

Oh how wrong you were....nothing would ever be normal in Reign

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a little carried away this chapter so...oops. I just couldn't stop writing so here you go. An extra long chapter for no reason other than inspiration. I hope this story isn't bad, I randomly came up with this idea recently. If you people have anything you want to see happen throughout the story don't hesitate to let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading this by the way, I convinced myself that everyone would hate this story


	4. Chapter 1 (REWRITE)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright before you get to the story, I just wanted to point out that I am rewriting this. I wasn't happy with how it was written before because I was rushing through everything and it just wasn't really meeting my standards. Thus, if you were reading this story before I decided to rewrite it: I'm sorry if you enjoyed how it was going before, I just wasn't okay with uploading a story I wouldn't want to read myself. Anyways, thank you and I hope you like the story!

You were sitting in your friend's car, watching as the rain fell along the road as your friend drove. You could hear the sound of the rain lightly tapping on the roof of the car. The patterns you drew with your finger formed on the steam in the passenger side window. There was music playing, however you were tuning it out. As soon as you looked up, another car was directly in front of you and your friend swerved to avoid it. When the car slammed into a tree, you slammed your head on the window. Your vision slowly started to become blurry. _This is it_ , you thought, _hopefully (Y/F/N) will be okay...I'll definitely miss her._ You could hear your friend's voice calling out your name as you closed your eyes. The music that you could hear from the car radio slowly began to fade out and you could feel yourself getting cold. The last thing you heard was a siren before you felt your consciousness fade.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The next time you opened your eyes, you were somewhere new. However, your surroundings still appeared familiar. As you tried to figure out where you were and why it was familiar, a voice next to you spoke up. "Oh good, you're finally awake. It felt like I was waiting for hours. Now get up, I have major news" The voice that spoke was feminine and...British? _Wait, what? (Y/F/N) is NOT British, at least she isn't from what I can remember...maybe that's the news?_ You sat up, expecting to see a friendly face. Instead, you were shocked to be met by the face of the Queen of Scots, or Mary, as you had grown accustomed to hearing her called on Reign. You got caught up in your thoughts again.  
Well, until Mary interrupted your thought process with her voice again "Anyway, I just found out we both have to leave for France because I'm getting married to the king-to-be. His name is Francis, do you remember him? We used to play with him at the castle...Oh dear, it's been years since we've seen him. I wonder if he's still the same? Never mind that, I'm rambling. What do you think?" You were still a little shell-shocked because you were in a completely new place.

You let out a breath you weren't aware you had been holding in and laughed nervously. You scratched the back of your neck and looked at her, "Well...I mean, I sort of remember Francis...you're right though, it's been years since we saw him last" I might as well play the part, it doesn't seem that I will be getting out of here anytime soon. Might as well enjoy myself I suppose, who knows what will happen? She nodded, "I hope getting married to him won't be awkward" You chuckled, "I'm sure it won't be, it's not the first time royals have been put in an arranged marriage...why am I coming along though?" She looked at you like you were crazy before she laughed, amused "Why wouldn't you come along? You're my sister and I demanded they let me bring you. You always talked about wanting to return to French Court." Even though you were surprised by her proclamation of you being her sister, you nodded "Oh, of course. I'm sorry, I suppose I'm still waking up"

You both laughed for a bit before Mary looked at you, "I shared that news to you because we really must be leaving as soon as possible. It's not safe here at the convent anymore. Our clothes are already packed, I was simply waiting for you to awake. Let us go now" You nodded, a little surprised at the sudden change in mood. It must be serious then, why can't I remember what happened? She stood up and held a hand out to you, offering to help you up. You accepted her help and stood up, brushing off your clothes and patting down your hair. She chuckled and walked out of the room, heading out of the convent and into a carriage.

As soon as you both sat down and got settled, the carriage started towards the castle. You took a deep breath, still worried about your memory. I used to never forget details about the shows I watched...what's different now? You glanced out the window, watching the lush, green fields that passed by. It really was a beautiful country, you were a little sad that you would be leaving this country so soon after you arrived. _Well, I guess I have supposedly been here for years...Unfortunately, I have no memory of these lands..._

As you thought this, bitterly, you began to wonder what happened to your memories of your life prior. It seemed that all you could remember was crashing in the car with your friend and then waking up here. _Why wouldn't they replace my memories with new ones? Who are "they" anyways? Did anyone even place me here or is this just an odd coincidence?_ Your inner ramblings were cut off when you felt Mary's hand on your shoulder. She smiled at you when you snapped out of your thought-provoked daze, "We're almost there, are you okay? You were lost in thought for quite some time..." You were confused, "Wait, how are we almost at French Court already?" She giggled, "Don't be silly, we're only at the boat that will take us to France. Come on, we don't want the boat to leave without us" You shook your head, amused at your own mistake "Oh yes, that makes much more sense. I would've really been lost in my thoughts if I didn't remember getting on a ship to France!" Mary smiled and stepped out of the carriage, gingerly, gesturing for you to follow. Both of you boarded the ship and headed off to France; Mary worried about her future and you were simply trying to figure out what was going on.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
You were finally nearing French court, both you and Mary exhausted of traveling. You had fallen asleep at some point, unaware that you had. So when a gentle hand shook your shoulder to wake you, you were surprised. You blinked your eyes open, looking up at Mary sleepily, "Did I really fall asleep again?" She chuckled and nodded, "Yes. I figured you needed the sleep though, we'll be busy throughout the next few days...getting me ready for marriage and all." You sighed, "That's true."

You looked up at her, "How long till we arrive at court?" She bit her lip, "A few minutes...which means it will only be a few minutes till I meet my future husband and his family for the first time in years; oh my, I really hope I do not mess this up" You shook your head and grabbed her hand, looking at her, "Trust me, you won't mess this up. I'm sure he'll love you." She smiled and looked down, "I hope so..." As she said this, the carriage came to a stop and it opened. You looked up and saw you had arrived at the castle; taking in a deep breath, you looked at Mary, "Well I suppose it's time we get up then, you're ready right?" She nodded at you and got up, exiting the carriage with you following close behind. You glanced around, in awe at the sheer size of the castle. It truly was a gorgeous building. You pondered how much it cost to build it, both money and resources-wise. It must have cost a fortune.

While you were in a daze, caught in your thoughts once more, Mary placed a hand on your arm. When you were brought out of your reverie, you glanced at her and murmured "What is it Mary?" She smiled at you and murmured back, subtly pointing in the direction of an attractive young man standing next to King Henry, "It seems as if you have someone to marry here as well." You looked where she was pointing and were surprised to see Sebastian, or Bash, in that direction. Your head snapped in Mary's direction, "What are you talking about? I'm not getting married, too, am I?" She raised an eyebrow, "Well you might, you are royalty as well...you marrying the King's favored son might strengthen the alliance with France...that won't be a problem will it? You do remember mother mentioning you getting married to Sebastian, right?" You shook your head, deciding you'd drop the act; well, when it came to getting married at least.

She sighed, "I know it's not desirable to get married to someone you haven't even met. However, he seems to be a good man and he's not that hard to look at either." You smacked her arm playfully and she laughed. Her smile fell, however, when she saw Francis approaching. You backed up a couple steps (or tried to anyways, Mary had a hold on your arm; most likely wanting someone she trusted there to support her) as he bowed in front of Mary. She responded with her own curtsy and smiled shyly, "Hello again Francis...it's been quite some time since I've seen you last."

He looked up at her and raised back up to his full height, nodding, "Yes it has. It's..wonderful to see you again. Did you have any troubles on your journey?" She shook her head, "No troubles at all actually. I had my sister to accompany me the whole way there," She gestured to you and you curtsied, feeling shy, "so it was bearable at the very least" They both chuckled and Francis looked at you, smiling slightly at you, "Welcome back to France," He looked back at Mary, "Both of you. I hope you both enjoy your time here." Mary smiled at him and then at you, surely pleased that everything seemed to go well. You, however, were worried that you would actually have to marry a man you hadn't truly met; additionally, you were concerned that you may be stuck here for a long time, if not forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's the first chapter rewritten. So far I'm liking this much better, it doesn't seem as forced. I also like this plot quite a bit better. I find that it makes more sense that if you're Mary's sister, you'd be in an arranged marriage as well. Tell me what you think! If you think I should change it again, let me know. I'll probably write a few more chapters while I'm motivated but I don't know yet. I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to this, I wanted to improve my writing skills a bit before I returned. Thank you for reading!


	5. Chapter 2 (REWRITE)

Both you and Mary were now settled into your rooms, the size of the castle still leaving you amazed. You were sitting down on your new, giant bed, looking out the window at the slowly dissipating crowd. Your thoughts were still centered on the idea of marrying Bash; without any idea as to whether or not it would truly happen, you knew you were worrying over nothing. However, you couldn't help it. _Ugh, why can't I remember anything from the show? It might make it easier to accept having to marry Bash if I could remember what he was like.._ Even as you thought this, you still made attempts to remember what you had seen in the past.

_It's no use_ , you thought, _I'll never remember anything. I can't even remember how I got here now._ As soon as you thought this, you suddenly realized you couldn't remember a single thing from your old life. You couldn't even remember your friend's name now, _am I starting to become more and more of a part of this show?_ You're spiraling thoughts were interrupted by a knock on your door, "Come in?" Mary walked in and smiled at you. She rushed over to you and sat on the edge of your bed, "So? How do you like the castle? It seems almost better than I remember..." You laughed at her enthusiasm, "It's wonderful Mary, everything is so luxurious. This bed feels like I'm floating miles above the sky, even though I know I'm not!" She giggled and nodded, "You're right, I don't even know how it's possible for something to be so comfortable. Did we used to live like this? It's been so long since we've lived anywhere besides the convent..."

You nodded, "I can hardly remember living anywhere with such luxury. I don't even remember staying here before. It all feels so new, despite an underlying feeling of familiarity." She smiled, "You're right again, it feels like such a strange place. At least we have two men around to introduce us to the castle..." You groaned, "You had to bring that up, didn't you? Nothing's official with me and Bash yet, is it? If it isn't then I really don't want to talk about it..." She smiled sheepishly, "Um..about that..."

You looked at her, suspiciously, "What? What is it?" She looked down and sighed, "Well, mother sent a letter to the king; apparently, they were discussing terms for you and Bash to marry. I was speaking with Bash earlier, it seems very likely to happen now. If negotiations go well, of course." You sighed, exasperated, and laid back; it seemed that your fears would coming true. "So that's it then?" you said, "I'm getting married?" Mary nodded, "I'm sorry. At least our weddings will be around the same time?" You did appreciate that she was making an attempt to cheer you up; although, you weren't sure you'd be very happy till you could at least speak to the man you were going to marry. Even then you weren't sure you would be happy, _can't hurt to try._ You sat back up and sighed, "Do you know where he is? It would probably be wise to speak to him myself...I only saw him very briefly." Mary grinned, "You wish to speak to him? I'm not entirely sure where he is. However, I know where Francis' room is so I can show you there and he can probably tell you where to go" You nodded, glumly, "Okay, show me where Francis is and I can ask him where to find Bash" She smiled and jumped up, gesturing for you to follow her.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When you and Mary arrived at Francis' room, she gestured for you to knock before she walked off. You whispered harshly at her, "Mary! Where are you going?" She chuckled and murmured, "I'm leaving! You should talk to Francis again anyways, you know him just as well as I do," before she turned a corner. You scowled and turned towards the door again. When you raised your hand and gingerly knocked on the door in front of you, you heard Francis saying, "Come in!" You rolled your eyes and wiped the scowl off your face before walking into the room. He looked up "Oh, (Y/N)! I wasn't expecting you...did you need something?" You chuckled, "What? Are you expecting someone?" He shrugged, "Maybe...why?" You shook your head, "Never mind that. I did actually need something, I was wondering where I could find your brother?"

He thought about it, "I'm not entirely sure where he is right now. However, he's usually in the stables at this time of day. Why are you looking for something? If it isn't anything specific for him, I could help you out, you know" You shook your head, "No, I actually just wanted to speak with him. Since I haven't met him and apparently I am to be wed to him," You curtsied, "I appreciate the offer, though, Francis" He smiled and nodded, "I did hear about the marriage, I hope it goes well." You couldn't tell if he was being sincere or not, though, because his smile seemed hollow...you shook those thoughts away and nodded again, "I'll see you sometime soon, Francis. I must be going though, thank you for your help." He shook his head, "It was no problem really, come to me again if you need anything else."

You smiled, "I will. I'm sure that offer extends to Mary as well?" He looked at you, "Oh. Yes, of course." You curtsied once more and turned around to leave, since he appeared to be reading. As you walked away, however, you couldn't feel his curious gaze following you out of the room. You shut the door behind you and walked off towards to stables to find Bash. You hoped that everything would go well, that Bash would at least like you as a friend. Otherwise, it would be an extremely uncomfortable marriage. You groaned and carded a hand through your hair, gathering your bearings before continuing towards the stables.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When you arrived at the stable, you heard a male voice murmuring something. You subtly peeked around the corner of the open doors, seeing who was in there. You saw Sebastian standing there and it seemed like he was calming a horse; when you saw him, you gulped and decided it was now or never. As you walked in, he turned around and almost seemed surprised to see you standing there. "(Y/N)? What are you doing here?" He questioned, smiling slightly. You looked down, "I was looking for you...I heard that we have been placed in an arranged marriage together. I thought that perhaps we should officially meet." He smiled at you and bowed, "Alright then, it's a pleasure to meet you then." You giggled and curtsied "The pleasure is all mine" He pat the horse he had been calming down one more time before walking over to you. You looked up at him, "So...I don't know how to talk to my fiance for the first time. Do you have any ideas?" He chuckled, "You could start by telling me a bit about yourself, maybe?" You shook your head, "You don't want to hear about me. I really don't have much to tell. Being royalty does not equate to living a very exciting life."

He smiled, "Okay...well, then how about we go horseback riding? You know how to ride right?" You nodded, not realizing that he was actually offering to go riding with you. He held out a hand to you, "Come on then, I want to show you around" You took his hand and he gently pulled you to the horse he had been speaking to when you arrived. You weren't entirely sure how to mount the horse; thus, you simply stared at it and were slightly intimidated. He laughed slightly and picked you up by your waist, helping you up onto the horse. You yelped when you felt his cold hands on your waist, "How are your hands so cold?!"

He laughed, "I've been outside for quite awhile, most likely for longer than you've been outside." He untied the horse and opened the stable before hopping onto the horse behind you. You looked at him behind you, "Um...maybe you should be on a different horse..?" You were still uncomfortable with him, rightfully so since you had just met him. He sighed and got off the horse, "You did say you knew how to ride so I suppose it should be alright." You scowled at him, "Are you implying that I might not know how to ride a horse?" He looked up at you, trying to not sound sarcastic as he said, "No. Of course not." You narrowed your eyes at him, still suspicious. He ignored your suspicion and untied another horse, getting onto that one. He glanced you, "Well, come on then. Follow me" He nodded his head toward the door before riding the horse out. You sat there for a second, trying to figure out why you knew how to ride a horse before you heard Bash ask, "Are you coming?" You rolled your eyes and rode after him. _What am I getting myself into?_


	6. Chapter 3 (REWRITE)

After you returned from horse riding with Bash, you went to find Mary so you could tell her what happened. You believed it had gone well, Bash had shown you various places around the castle outside and you talked with him briefly. However, you still weren't sure you were okay with marrying him. You had already decided that it was necessary to speak with Mary and perhaps get Mary and your mother to question the arranged marriage. You sighed, knowing it would most likely fail and the chances of you getting married would, perhaps, increase. You walked up to Mary's chamber door and knocked. She opened the door and smiled when she saw you, "(Y/N)! You're back, come in. Please." She stepped away from the door and allowed you to walk in, which you did. Once you had entered and Mary had shut the door, you both sat in soft chairs that were placed throughout the room.

After a moment of silence, you took a deep breath and looked at her, "Mary, I can't marry Bash. I don't think it would be a good decision." She sighed, "I know it may not be desirable but it needs to happen...if you don't marry Bash, Francis won't marry me. We need to convince King Henry that we're serious about Scotland's alliance with France." You huffed, "But what's the point if we both marry into France? What if we need to make an alliance elsewhere? If we're both married, it would be impossible to form alliances with other nations!" You didn't want to marry elsewhere; however, you knew this was the only chance you had to get out of this marriage. She frowned, "If both of us don't marry one of the king's sons then neither of us will! We need this alliance, you know that England isn't backing down when only Scottish armies oppose them. The alliance with France is essential, regardless of what you and I think. Additionally, it's not as if I have any control over your marriage. That is between our mother and King Henry!" You glared at her, "You would be able to help me go up against mother to possibly change her mind, though. I DON'T want to marry him because I don't know him!"

She looked up at hearing your reason to not marry him, "You're simply worried about not knowing the man you're marrying? You can get to know him, that isn't an issue. If you refuse to marry him, however, that would be a big problem. I can give you as much time as possible if you at least agree to marry him, after you get to know him of course." You sighed, defeated, and looked up at her, "Alright. Fine. I will marry Bash as soon as I get to know him. I still don't like the idea but I suppose it would be bearable if I know who the man is." She grinned, "Perfect. Now seems as good a time as any to tell you this then...their sister's wedding is tonight and we're both invited to attend. I suggest that tonight you get to know Bash and perhaps talk to Francis. After all, you will be married to his half-brother if everything goes to plan. Maybe speaking to Francis will help you understand Bash more." You sighed, "You really won't waste any time making sure I get married to Bash, will you?" She chuckled, "Well, I can't get married till you do...so I need the marriage to happen as soon as possible. Mother sent word that England is advancing on Scottish borders."

You ran a hand over your face, "All these politics are starting to give me a headache...can we not talk about me getting married or the English threat in Scotland for a few minutes? We should have fun, for the first time since we've arrived" She smiled, "Okay, okay. I'll stop talking about it, for a bit anyways. Shall we get ready for the wedding tonight? That should be fun" You sighed and nodded, "Alright. I have no idea what I want to wear tonight." She giggled, "That's what I'm here for! I'm sure we can find something you will look stunning in." You knew that she would mention Bash again, so you gave her a look. She raised her hands up in mock surrender, "I didn't say anything!" You both laughed before you looked at her, "You were planning to. You had that mischievous glint in your eye" She smiled, "Alright you caught me. I just can't help it! Imagine how cute it would be if he fell in love with you at this wedding tonight." You groaned loudly and glared at her, "He's not going to fall in love with me in one night! That's just ridiculous. Also, before you say it, I'm not going to fall in love with him tonight either."

She giggled, "A girl can fantasize, I suppose. Imagine how wonderful that story would be, though! You went horseback riding together and then fell in love with each other at a wedding...as if it was destiny." You looked at her, surprised, "Wait a minute, how did you know we went horseback riding together?" She blushed, "I may or may not have been spying on you two while I walked Sterling...?" You covered your face with a pillow, embarrassed, "Mary! That was supposed to be private!" She raised an eyebrow, "Oh, stop that. You're in a castle full of people and you're engaged to the king's illegitimate son, privacy is the last thing you should expect." You sighed, "Ugh, why are you always right? I should've known someone would have seen us. At least it was you, since you're so insistent that we get together anyways!"

She giggled and nodded before standing up, walking to her closet, "Now to find something for you to wear...you should borrow one of my dresses." You rolled your eyes, "What's wrong with the dresses I have?" She looked at you, curiously, "Usually you jump at the chance to borrow one of my dresses. What's so different this time?" You looked at her, laughing nervously, "Oh. Nothing's different, I was just uh...joking! Yeah, that's it. I was joking." She looked at you suspiciously and you responded with a sheepish smile. She sighed, "Well alright, if you say so. Come over here and help me pick one out for you." You got up and stretched, "Well okay, what do you have in mind right now?" You walked over to her and she took out a dress, showing it to you, "What about this one?" She held up an off the shoulder, long-sleeve dress that was a silky black color. You made a face at the pattern on the top, though, and she chuckled, "This isn't the one for you, is it?"

You shook your head and smiled awkwardly, "I'm sorry. I'm simply not a huge fan of the pattern" She nodded, "It's alright. I don't expect you to have the exact same taste in clothes as me...otherwise we'd be clones, not sisters" You looked around her closet, pointing at a long, sleeveless red dress, "What about this one?" She raised an eyebrow, glancing at the dress before shaking her head, "No. Red isn't the right color for you tonight. Keep looking." You sighed and glanced around the closet some more until you saw a dress you really liked. 

You pulled the dress out completely. It was a white dress with gold details streaming from the top. It was a strapless dress and had tulle stretching from the waistline all the way to the ground. You grinned and help it up to yourself, showing Mary, "Okay. How about this one?" She smiled approvingly and nodded, "That's definitely the dress." (If anyone is curious what it looks like here's a link: [vestido-de-noiva-dourado-tomar](https://meucasamento.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/vestido-de-noiva-dourado-tomara-que-caia.jpg)) After each of you decided what dresses you wanted to wear, both of you got ready for the wedding.  
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Once you both arrived, you could see that everyone had already gathered. You looked at Mary and whispered to her, "I thought you said it didn't start till later?" She grinned cheekily and whispered back, "I may have lied...You weren't quite ready and I didn't want to rush your process." You sighed and smiled at everyone, muttering, "Well, now I feel rude. Everyone's already here! And, they're staring at us!" She grabbed your hands, dragging you to the dance floor, "Never mind them, I want to dance come on!" You rolled your eyes and followed her, not entirely sure what you were doing. The music picked up and the both of you danced, spinning in circles with each other. Mary was laughing and you let out a giggle, starting to relax a bit more. 

As the song came to an end, you glanced around the room. It surprised you to see that other people had joined you and Mary. You were expecting to be embarrassed, not have a crowd join the two of you in your dancing. You looked at Mary, "I think I'm going to go sit down before I embarrass myself somehow." She smiled and nodded, patting your shoulder, "Alright, go ahead. I need to speak with some of the nobles anyways. Perhaps you could go speak to Bash?" You rolled your eyes at her and walked off the dance floor, not missing the glances you were getting from Francis and Bash. However, you chose to ignore those glances and continue walking. You went and sat down in one of the few chairs that still remained open, taking a deep breath. You laughed softly, thinking about what you had just done. You knew how silly that dance must have looked. While you laughed quietly at yourself, you could hear footsteps approaching you.

You looked up to see who was walking towards you and were surprised when you saw Bash in front of you. He smiled down at you, offering you a hand, "May I have the next dance?" You raised an eyebrow, curious as to why he suddenly seemed to want to dance with you, and accepted his hand, standing up, "I suppose you may..." He walked back to the dance floor with you and looked at you, "So I heard that you don't want to marry me, may I inquire why?" You bit your lip and looked down, _so that's why he wanted to dance with me_ , "It's nothing personal. Really. I'm simply not happy with the idea of an arranged marriage. I only met you yesterday. I imagine you aren't wanting to get married either." He smiled slightly, "I'm not completely opposed to it. I guess I'll have to win you over."

You and him started dancing to the slowing music; you looked up into his eyes as he pulled you slightly closer, "What do you mean 'win me over'? It doesn't matter what I think of you. Our parents will force us to get married regardless of our opinions of each other." He chuckled, "I know. Although, I'd much rather be married to someone who didn't dislike me or someone who wasn't repulsed by me." You smiled and shook your head, averting your gaze from his, "I'm not repulsed by you. I still haven't even formed my opinions towards you, yet." He raised an eyebrow and smirked at you, "Well it's a start then. Indifference is better than hatred." You couldn't help but giggle. _He isn't bad...so far_ , you thought. He spun you around suddenly, catching you by surprise, and you stumbled slightly. When you nearly fell over, he caught you. You met his gaze again and smiled, "Thank you for catching me." He smiled, "I'll always catch you, as long as you let me." With that statement, the music stopped and he walked off to go find Francis once more. He left you shocked by his words, pondering what he even meant by them. _Does that mean he actually wants to marry me?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay then! Things are starting to go down in the French Court. Next time I promise to include more Francis. This chapter was more about getting stuff started with Bash. I hope everyone is liking the story so far! I mean, I already have way more written than I originally did with this story. Clearly I'm enjoying this plot much more. Thank you so much for reading! See you soon!


	7. Chapter 4

You were currently sitting outside, painting the woods in front of you while Sterling napped at your side. It had been a few days since the wedding and you hadn't spoken to Bash since you danced with him, it was really starting to bother you. _It's strange,_  you thought, _I didn't do or say anything wrong. Did I?_ You groaned when you accidentally painted a streak of the wrong color at the top of the canvas. You sighed, _t_ _hat's what I get for being distracted._ While you desperately tried to fix the painting, you heard a voice speak up behind you, "That's a wonderful painting...I didn't know you painted." You jumped, surprised, before turning around. You saw Francis standing in front of you.

"What are you doing here Francis?" You looked up at him, forgetting briefly about the mistake on your painting. He smiled slightly, "I was curious what you were doing out here alone. You seemed lost in thought earlier, I wanted to make sure you were okay." You stood up, setting the paintbrush and palette down on your chair, "Well, thank you. I'm fine. I just wish your brother wouldn't avoid me." He raised an eyebrow, "He's avoiding you? That's strange, Bash isn't typically like that." You shrugged, "Well I wouldn't know. Since he's been _avoiding_ me after I spoke with him very briefly." A silence fell between the two of you, Francis appeared to be looking at your painting. 

You remembered your mistake and reached for the palette and the paintbrush on your chair, right as Francis was doing the same thing. Your hands brushed together and you quickly pulled your hand back. He looked at you, embarrassed, "I'm sorry. I noticed a streak right there and I was going to fix it..." You giggled and raised an eyebrow, "It's okay. However, I didn't know you could paint?" **(A/N: So I know in the show he makes swords..but for the sake of the plot I switched it to painting. Just bear with me here)** He looked down, "You wouldn't be the first to not know that I paint. Not very many people do." He couldn't help it and he quickly grabbed the paintbrush, fixing your mistake. 

You chuckled, "Why'd you start painting? I would think you were busy enough without an extra skill.." He looked at you, setting the paintbrush back down, "I didn't want the only things I knew how to do to be something I inherited from my father." You shrugged, "Makes sense. That's admirable, really. I think many people in your position would sit back and let things come to them." He nodded, looking at you with a look you couldn't read, "You're the first person who's truly understood why I want to do something besides rule." You smiled, looking back at your painting before grabbing the palette and paintbrush again, "I think I'm going to finish this painting. I'm almost finished." He nodded, "Good luck with your painting then," before turning and walking away.

You sighed and continued working on the top half of the painting. Right when you were absorbed in painting once more, Sterling jumped and ran off into the woods, barking at something. You panicked, _Mary would kill me if I lost Sterling._ You started to run after Sterling when you heard someone calling out your name. You ignored the voice and kept running towards the woods. The voice was now closer and pulled you backwards, nearly pulling you over. You fought against their grip and they turned you towards them. When you looked up, you met Bash's eyes.

"Hey, calm down! You shouldn't go into the woods, it's dangerous." He cupped your face in his hands, keeping you still. You were still panicking, your eyes wide, "But...Sterling...Mary...she's going to kill me." He gently ran a thumb across your cheek, "I'll find Sterling for you. Don't run into the woods, especially alone. Okay?" You sighed and nodded, your eyes darting around as you looked into his, trying to calm down. He smiled slightly, "Good. Are you going to be okay if I let you go? You promise not to run?" You bit your lip and nodded again. He hesitantly let you out of his grip, leaving a hand on your shoulder.

After you had calmed down, you smacked his shoulder, "Where have you been the last couple of days? You disappeared!" He looked at you, blushing very slightly, "I just thought...I assumed you uh...didn't want to talk to me." You furrowed your eyebrows, frowning slightly, "Why would you think that? Because you danced with me? I wanted to talk to you more, if anything, after that. I was really upset because I thought you were avoiding me based on something I did!" He looked down, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to avoid you, I just sort of...did."

You sighed, "Fine. Whatever. Moving on, you can find Sterling right? Sterling's going to be okay?" He nodded, "Yes, of course. Sterling will be fine, nothing will happen to him." You looked at Bash suspiciously, "Wait...how come if I shouldn't go in the woods, you assume Sterling will be just fine?" He bit his lip, "Um...it's a hunch, trust me okay?" You frowned slightly and nodded, "Okay. I'll trust you, you'll tell me what's going on in the woods someday, though, right?" He raised an eyebrow, "I'm not going to go and make a promise I'm not sure I'll keep." You shook your head and chuckled, "Trust goes both ways, you know that right?" He nodded and turned you around towards the castle, "I do know that. However, not everything is meant to be shared. Now go, I need to find Sterling before he's gone." 

You looked back at him one more time, suspiciously, before nodding slightly, "Alright. Please find him, I really would miss that dog." Bash smiled at you, "Don't worry, I'll get him back to you as soon as I can." You grinned and walked back to the castle, yelling back to him, "Thanks again! I owe you one, you're the best." He sighed and looked at the woods for a minute before venturing in to find Sterling.

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You were wandering around the castle, waiting for Bash to come back with Sterling. _I can't talk to Mary without bringing Sterling back_ , you thought, _what am I supposed to do while I wait for Bash to return?_ You ultimately decided to go down a hallway that seemed mostly deserted, knowing that Mary probably wouldn't be there. At the end of the hallway, you found an open door that led to a wide, somewhat empty room. When you saw no one in the room, you walked in and looked around. Along one of the walls there were swords and training dummies were pushed to one side of the room. You walked up to the wall of swords and gently ran a hand along one of them, gingerly taking it down from the wall. You cringed and paused when you accidentally hit two swords together, making an echoing, clanging sound. You hesitantly walked to the center of the room and started swinging the sword, seeing what it was like.

"I thought I heard someone in here." You jumped slightly, dropping the sword with a clang as a voice spoke up behind you. You heard a quiet laugh behind you as you quickly turned around, "Francis? Don't sneak up on me like that!" You looked at him, indignantly. He held his hands up in mock surrender, walking over to you, "Okay, okay. I won't sneak up on you again. I was simply curious because there was a loud noise in a room that was supposedly empty at this time of day." You bit your lip and looked up at him, "I'm sorry I'm in here. I was avoiding Mary until Bash returns with Sterling when I found this room...it was empty so...I went in here to hide." He chuckled, "Well, you aren't doing a very good job at hiding. You know, seeing as I discovered you in here without even trying to look for you." You smiled at him, "I'm lucky Mary wasn't the one who found me then."

He averted his eyes from your gaze, glancing at the sword on the ground, "Are you interested in sword-fighting?" You knelt down and picked the sword back off the ground, running a finger softly along the blade, "I'm not opposed to it, sword-fighting would be an intriguing skill to know and may benefit me in the future." He nodded, "That's true. Would you like someone to teach you? I'm not very good but I can, perhaps, be of some help to you learning sword-fighting." You grinned, "I'd love it if you could teach me. It wouldn't be a bother, would it?" He shook his head and gracefully grabbed another sword from the wall, "It isn't a bother at all."

Francis proceeded to try and teach you the basics of sword-fighting for about half an hour, before setting his sword down and walking over to you. You slowly lowered your sword and looked at him, "What? Am I really that bad?" He chuckled and shook his head, "It would help if you were standing correctly. Do you mind...?" His hands hovered over your shoulders and you shook your head, "Go ahead..." He grabbed your shoulders, changing your position slightly, "You look so tense while you're holding that sword. You can hurt yourself that way, relax a bit." He released your shoulders, pausing for a moment before gently grabbing your waist, fixing your stance. You bit your lip, his hands warming your skin wherever they touched. You unconsciously leaned back into him, drawn to his warmth. 

He hesitated before his head dipped down, his lips softly brushing the crook of your neck. The sword in your hands slipped, falling to the ground with a clang once more, bringing you both out of your trance. Before either of you had the chance to pull away, Bash walked in with Sterling and saw you two in that compromising position. You looked at him and he frowned at you before tossing the leash on the ground and avoiding looking at you, "Here's your dog...at least I now know why you don't want to marry me." With that statement, he briskly left the room with you following close behind. ~~Don't worry, you took Sterling with you.~~  

"Bash, wait! It's not what it looks like!" You ran after him before he stopped, turning around and looking at you. You skidded to a stop in front of him and he looked at you, clearly trying to hide that he was hurt, "Oh, really? What is it, then? Because it looks like you'd much rather be with my brother than me." Before you had a chance to respond, he turned around to walk away from you. You grabbed his arm to keep him from getting away and he turned towards you, "Please..let me explain." He looked at you, expectantly, "Speak." You sighed and released his arm, knowing that his patience with you was very thin, "Francis was helping me learn to sword-fight...he was fixing my stance and both of us got caught up in the moment. Please, don't be angry with me. It's not as if you like me as more than an acquaintance anyways, right?"

He shook his head and ran a hand over his face, "You really don't get it, do you?" You looked up at him, confused, "What do you me-.." He cut you off by grabbing your face, pulling you towards him, and kissing you. Before you could even fully process what had happened, he had already pulled away and walked off, leaving you to stand there shocked.


	8. Chapter 5

You had returned to your room after the incident with Francis and Bash occurred, you were still wildly confused by each of their actions. All you wanted to happen today was to finish your painting, walk Sterling around the grounds, and maybe speak with Bash again. However, the day turned out very differently. You glanced at Sterling, who was currently sleeping on your bed, "Why'd you have to run? Now everything is so much more complicated..." You knew it was silly to expect an answer but you continued rambling, now you were speaking your thoughts out loud to try and figure out what was going on, "I didn't even know that Bash saw me as anything more than a forced marriage...do I look at him as anything more than that? Then, there's Francis..."

You sighed, "How is it that they seemed to already know what they're feeling? I don't even know if I feel anything towards them...let alone how to act on those feelings...life is so easy for you, Sterling, it's unfair really." You huffed, frustrated, and fell back on your pillows. You eventually fell asleep, giving up on figuring out your feelings for the time being. Your sleep, however, was very short lived because loud knocking proceeded to wake you. You groaned and got up, opening up the door to your room, still rubbing the sleep from your eyes you said, "What is it now?" As soon as you could see properly, you were met with Mary's somewhat upset face, "How come I had to hear from servant gossip that Bash kissed you?"

You rolled your eyes, walking back into your room, muttering, "Oh. Please, come in. How am I doing? I'm wonderful, thanks for the concern..." She walked in behind you, her arms crossed, "You didn't even tell me you liked him! You know that the weddings need to happen as soon as possible, why didn't you tell me you've gotten to know him?" You turned around, "Because I don't know if I like him! I didn't even know he liked me! I just found out that he liked me when he kissed me, okay?" She frowned, "Well you know now...when do you feel like you can get married?" You ran a hand through your hair, mumbling, "It's not that simple..." She raised an eyebrow, having heard you, "What's not simple? It seems like you two have gotten to know each other and you seem to like him..."

You groaned, "There's someone else, okay? I'm not sure if I'm ready to give them up..." You knew better than to tell her it was Francis, her eyes narrowed, "So you're telling me that you are willing to mess up this alliance because of 'someone else'. You do realize that if I told mother that, she would be more than just a tad frustrated, right?" You glared at her, "I know, okay? All I'm saying is that I'm not sure I'm ready to get married right at this moment." She froze and you looked at her, "What? What is it? Am I missing something here?" She bit her lip, "Well...I may have told King Henry you were ready to get married after I found out about Bash kissing you...so, your wedding is next week"

Your eyes widened, "Excuse me? You said what?" She looked at you, "I said that you were ready to be wed, I'm sorry! I thought you were..." You shook your head and quickly sped out of the room, ignoring her calling your name. You walked as fast as you could to the stables, intending to ride off. You had no idea where you were planning to go but you knew you had to be somewhere other than castle right now. As soon as you made it to the stables, you retrieved a horse and rode off. Without realizing where you were going, you rode right into the woods. You broke out of your thoughts very briefly, only to realize that you were completely lost.

You looked around frantically, trying to figure out where you even were. The horse started to slow down and you panicked, "Oh no you don't, please don't stop now!" You tried to get the horse to start running again but it ignored you and stood still. You heard a stick snap behind you and you quickly turned as much as you could to look behind you. Then you heard more footsteps approaching all around you. Even though you knew this would probably be a mistake, it's all you could think of at the time since the horse wouldn't move. You got off the horse as fast as you could and tried to run away from the approaching footsteps.

It was to no avail, however, because you only got a few steps before you were grabbed by a dark figure. You screamed and were cut off by a hand covering your mouth. You continued to struggle while you were dragged over to what appeared to be a rope lying on the ground. You began to grow more panicked when you were lifted off the ground and another figure tied the rope around your feet. _Well, Bash wasn't wrong when he said I shouldn't go in the woods..._ you thought, bitterly, _I guess this is it._ Despite your efforts to not cry, you couldn't hold your tears back as you were suspended in the air by your feet tied by the rope onto a tree branch. You screamed for help again, hoping the maybe someone could hear you and would come to your rescue.  

However, what they did next surprised you. Instead of slitting your throat, they grabbed your hand and pressed a pendant to it. You felt a tingling, burning sensation on your skin until they pulled the pendant off. You thought they were done until you saw the glint of a knife in the small bit of light. Your eyes widened before they quickly slashed both of your wrists. You cried out at the pain but you heard the sound of a horse approaching and a sword being drawn. Before you could process who was there or what was happening, the group of people that captured you were on the ground. _Are they dead_ , you wondered, _what just happened?_ The rope around your feet went slack and you fell into someone's arms. 

You looked up at your savior and met Bash's eyes, which you then quickly looked away from. He looked at you, concerned, "Didn't I tell you not to go into the woods?" You sighed, muttering, "I know...I'm sorry..." He raised an eyebrow, "What happened? You don't seem like the type to ignore warnings..." You frowned, "Mary...She said that we're getting married next week..." He opened his mouth to say something before he realized you were bleeding, "Why didn't you tell me you were bleeding?!" He gently set you down before he took off his shirt to use as a makeshift bandage. After ripping it into two pieces for each of your wrists, he tightly bandaged your arm to stop the bleeding for now.

Right as he was going to set your arms down and pick you up, he saw the burn on your hand from the pendant. His eyes widened, almost as if there was a deeper meaning to it. You looked at him, "What is it Bash? It's just a burn, I should be fine..." He shook his head, "It's not just a burn..." He picked you up and set you on his horse, getting on behind you. You looked back at him, "What is it then?" He frowned, "Don't worry about it...I'll deal with it." You sighed and were going to comment on trust again before he began riding back to the castle, cutting you off. 

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Back at the castle, Nostradamus was re-bandaging your wrists while Bash paced back and forth. He paused and looked at you, "Mary is absolutely sure my father said next week?" You rolled your eyes, your head falling back against the pillow on the bed you were currently on, "I would assume since she told me that after speaking with your father, they decided the wedding would happen next week." He raised an eyebrow, "Why next week, though? Mary told me that they were waiting till you were ready...are you ready then?" You sighed, "I don't know! Mary said that she just assumed I was because **_you_** kissed me!" He bit his lip, "Oh...sorry."

"Sorry?! That's all you're going to say?! We're getting _ **married**_ next week because of you and all you have to say is **_sorry_**?" He resumed pacing, avoiding looking at you, "How was I supposed to know that A: someone would see me or B: your sister would then decide that means you're ready?" Nostradamus, awkwardly, interrupted your argument with Bash and muttered, "Your bandages are fixed...you should be healed in a few days time.." You nodded and got up, realizing you had been arguing in front of this poor man, "Thank you. We'll leave you be now." You then grabbed Bash's hand and dragged him out. 

Once you were out of the room, you looked at him. You opened your mouth to say something before looking down, closing your mouth and walking away quickly. Bash followed you and, since you have perfect timing, you ran into someone. You looked up and saw Francis, "Oh great, I definitely needed to see you right now..." You were very sarcastic and Francis raised an eyebrow, "Did I do something wrong?" You laughed, bitterly, "Other than making me _**extremely**_ confused? No...nothing." He backed up a bit, seeing that you were quite mad at the moment, "Well I'm sorry I confused you?" You shook your head, laughing, before continuing on your path, "Wow, you and your brother really like the word sorry.."

Bash and Francis exchanged a look as you walked down the hall before they started to follow you. It was almost like you were reading their minds because as soon as they started to take a step forward, you called back to them, "Don't follow me! It's not wise to follow me when I'm angry!" They both stopped and you stormed into your chambers, slamming the door behind you. 

You collapsed into a chair that was in there, finally breaking into tears. You thought about what had happened today: From learning about your wedding next week to Bash, to being kidnapped and hurt. Then, of course, there was the strange burn on your hand that Bash seemed to be worried about. _What is it anyways? Is it dangerous to me or something?_ You couldn't stop yourself from crying, you had been holding in your feelings all day. You heard a soft knock at your door and you called out, trying to sound strong but your voice broke halfway through, "Go away..please..." Whoever it was ignored you, walking into your room anyways.

You looked up and saw Mary. You groaned and your face fell back to your hands, "Let me guess...you heard my outburst and are here to tell me I need to apologize or whatever." She shook her head and sat next to you, gently patting your back, "The opposite actually...I was going to ask if you wanted me to yell at someone for you." You laughed and wiped your tears away from your eyes, "Of course you were...I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to freak out, you had no way of knowing that I wasn't ready yet. Kissing is usually a pretty good way to know if someone is ready..." She smiled, "It's alright. You were overwhelmed, understandably. I did tell you that you were to be wed in 1 week, I was overwhelmed when I found out I'd be getting married too." 

You looked at her again, "Really? You seem so composed about this whole marriage thing, though." She laughed, "I wasn't always. I remember screaming at mother a few times that I didn't want to get married to **_Francis_** of all people." You giggled, "What did you have against him?" She sighed, "Oh where to begin...I suppose when I was kid, being in a romantic relationship with anyone seemed like the end of my life. Even now, it still seems strange that I might be more than friends with someone..." You nodded, staring at your feet, "So I guess you do kind of understand what I'm going through." She nodded, "Just because I'm not showing my feelings doesn't mean I'm completely okay with an arranged marriage." You sighed and she got up, holding a hand out. You looked at her hand confused before looking up at her, raising an eyebrow. She smiled, "Come on. I think you have a couple people you should talk to. Like Bash, or Francis maybe?" 

Your eyes widened, "Wait, you know?" She laughed, "Of course I know. He's been looking at you with 'heart eyes' for a week now. Plus, I know my sister. You two were close even when we were all kids." You chuckled, "I should've known I can't hide anything from you..." She smirked, "I have to say, though, I'm not counting Bash out just yet...I still think that you two feel something for each other." You groaned, "Mary! Stop hoping I get with every man in my life!" She giggled and you rolled your eyes, grabbing her hand. She helped you up and dragged you back out of your chambers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Ok! So I'm curious what you're guys' opinion is on who you think the reader should end up with in the end. Please note that whoever wins [Francis or Bash] may not be set in stone as the person the reader will end up with, it might influence me slightly though. I simply want to know where you think the guys the story is going. Thus, here's a Straw Poll for you to vote for who the reader should end up with: strawpoll.com/sfr1gw5. Thanks for voting/reading! Bye for now!)


	9. Chapter 6

Rather than approaching either of the two men, you waited for them to find you. Seeing as you had found a nice spot along the river near the castle, you were sitting upon a rock that extended on a small peninsula away from the shore. Your knees were hugged to your chest and your skirts flowed down the rock and floated upon the water; you gently swayed with the breeze while your eyes were closed. It had been a few hours since you had arrived at the spot; you didn't mind waiting, though, because it was nice to be away from the drama of the castle for awhile.

You heard the soft crunch of the sand behind you as someone approached you. Consequently, you opened your eyes and turned; your gaze meeting another's deep blue one. You watched as he walked over to you, "Francis.." He didn't say anything as he came and sat next to you on the rock. You turned to look at the water. A few more moments passed in silence before he finally spoke, "Are you okay?" You turned again, surprised to find him staring at you, "Do you want to know my actual answer to that question? Or is that just a conversation starter?" He chuckled, "The actual answer."

You sighed and looked up at the clouds slowly flowing over you, "I'm honestly not sure. I'm feeling overwhelmed I suppose...if that equates to being not okay, then I suppose that I'm not okay." Instead of a verbal answer, you felt his hand gently rest on your shoulder before pushing your hair behind your ear. Your lips curled into a smile and you closed your eyes again, hearing Francis move. Water hit your face and, before you could process what was happening, you were pulled into the water. You shrieked at the cold water, "Francis!" He was laughing and you opened your eyes, pouting when you noticed your hair was in your face.

You pushed your hair out of your view and frowned at him, "What was that for?" He shrugged, "It was warm out here...so I thought swimming might be nice." You huffed, "I'm in a dress Francis!" He laughed again, "So? I'm in my clothes as well. We can change after we get out." You looked at him and he returned your gaze with a sheepish smile. You sighed and muttered, "I can't stay mad at you..." You looked at him, "Your father will most likely be mad, I hope you know." He shrugged, "I've done this before. He'll be relieved that I at least took my jacket off so I won't lose it again." You raised an eyebrow, "You've lost a jacket before? How'd you manage that?" He shook his head, "I don't even remember"

You swam closer to the shore behind the rock and sat so the water reached a little higher than your waist. As you felt the water running through your fingers, you watched as Francis swam, "Careful, people might think you're having fun." He rolled his eyes, but still smiled slightly before swimming over to you. He sat next to you and whispered in your ear, "I just wanted to see you smile again. You've looked so serious while you've been here." You blushed and he wrapped an arm around your waist. You smiled and leaned your head on his shoulder, the water flowing around the two of you.

Both of you sat like that together for about an hour before Francis sighed and removed his arm from your waist. You had fallen asleep; thus, when he moved, you groaned and blinked your eyes, squinting. He chuckled, "Did I wake you?" You yawned and nodded. "You looked so peaceful..I'm sorry," He kissed your forehead gently. You smiled and shook your head, blushing, "It's okay. We should probably head back anyways." He looked at you, "You can go ahead. I think I'm going to sit here a little longer." You raised an eyebrow, "Okay. I'll see you later back at the castle?" He nodded.

You got up and Francis looked up at you, he couldn't help but notice how the light was hitting your hair flowing behind you. You grinned at him, "What? You're staring..." He shook his head and looked at the water, chuckling, "Nothing." You shrugged and pat his shoulder before walking to the castle. Francis watched as you walked way, thinking about the time you two had spent together. 

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As soon as you entered the castle, Mary ran over to you, "(Y/N)! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you, we have to pick out your wedding dress so they can tailor it before the wedding." You groaned and looked at her, "Okay. Let's go I suppose." She smiled and grabbed your wrist, dragging you upstairs before looking at you with a raised eyebrow, "Where have you been anyways?" Right when you were going to answer her, a group of people came in carrying various dresses. You shrugged at Mary and mouthed to her, _"I'll tell you later"_ She nodded at you.

Your eyes slowly widened more and more as the women started laying out even more dresses. Mary chuckled and you looked at her, "How many dresses _are_ there?" She chuckled more and watched the torrent of dresses, "More than you can count...and you have to keep trying them on till you find one you like." You groaned, "I guess I better get started," and then grabbed the dress closest to you. You continued trying on dresses for about two hours. You turned around, showing Mary the [dress](http://image.dhgate.com/albu_455681829_00-1.0x0/as2086-expensive-luxurious-swarovski-crystal.jpg) you had on now. You raised an eyebrow, smoothing the front of the dress down, "Well? What do you think?" She grinned, "That's the one."

You heard a door open behind you and you looked over your shoulder, meeting Bash's gaze. You blushed at his shell-shocked look, "Do you like the dress?" He blinked and snapped out of it, smiling, "It's uh..it's great. You look beautiful." You blushed deeper and looked down, your hair cascading over your eyes. Footsteps sounded behind you before you felt a hand on your shoulder turning you around. You looked at your feet before a hand under your chin gently made you look up. Your eyes met Bash's once more and you smiled shyly at him. He leaned in and you thought he was going to kiss you again.

However, he leaned his head slightly to the side and whispered in your ear, "You're going to look absolutely gorgeous on our wedding day." You blushed a deep red from his words and smiled. He softly kissed your jaw before pulling away completely and briskly leaving the room as quickly as he came in. While you were still processing what happened, Mary hugged you tightly, "You two were so cute together! He's totally in love with you!" You looked at her, "I have no idea what just happened." She grinned, "I don't really know either, but it was extremely adorable."

You sighed and sat in a chair, "That's the problem." At that point, everyone except you and Mary had left the room, Mary frowned, "What's bad about that?" You looked down at the fabric pooled around your feet, "I still haven't figured out whether I like Francis or Bash more. All that changed today is that I got even more confused." She sat in the chair next to yours, "You'll figure it out eventually. The thing about love is that it's always crystal clear in the end who you're meant to be with."

You ran a hand through your hair, "Mary?" She looked at you, "Yeah?" You sighed, "How are you always right about these things?" She giggled, " I don't know. I suppose it's just the age difference?" You shrugged, "I suppose." She got up and held out a hand; you looked between her hand and her. She laughed, "Well c'mon then. You should change out of that dress before it gets ruined. It would be unfortunate if it was ruined because it is really pretty." You took her hand and she gently pulled you up, being careful to not ruin the dress.

 


	10. Chapter 7

The following morning, Bash had left moments ago to alert Francis and Mary that the English arrived with peaceful intentions. Meanwhile, however, you were left alone for the first time in quite some time. You decided to spend the time sitting in a bay window-like area while reading a book. You sat with your knees hugged to your chest on the stone edging surrounding a large window, your book sitting next to you. While staring outside at the clear skies and vibrant greenery, your head leaned against the glass. This led you to think, _how is it that everything else seems so peaceful while I'm in this mess?_

The more you thought about it, the more you realized that this whole problem would have never happened if you simply left your feelings out of this marriage situation. You sighed and picked at a stray thread on your dress, your hair shielding your face. _Maybe I should do whatever mother wants now, she seems to know best. It's clear that all my feelings are good for is making a mess of things._ You glanced out the window again, coming to the conclusion that you'd let your marriage go to whomever your mom or Mary decided was good for Scotland, _I may not like it but they're probably right in the end._

As your thoughts came to a close, you saw the, much larger than it started, group approaching the castle:  _That's so many English...is this safe for Mary and I? I mean, I expected a few English since Bash had to go warn Mary and Francis; but this is too many to be safe, right?_ You shook your head,  _now I'm thinking irrationally. I'm sure they have this under control._ You picked up your book that you had set down awhile ago, returning to the tales you often found yourself reading.

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You had gotten lost in the words on the page, forgetting about the world around you. However, you were quickly brought out of that state of mind by a hand on your shoulder. You looked up and saw Mary; she smiled before saying to you, "Come on, there is a celebratory ball for Charles and Madeleine right now. You wanted to come, right?" You raised an eyebrow, not remembering when you were told about it; you got up regardless, figuring that you might as well attend. 

You and Mary walked down to the throne room together, both of you already wearing suitable dresses for the quickly-assembled ball. Once you were both there, Mary went off to find Francis and leaving you wondering what to do. You frowned, looking around; you saw Bash across the room and smiled. As soon as you began to walk over to him, you were stopped by someone. You looked up at the man in front of you, recognizing him from Mary's description a few days ago,  "Ah, Lord Westbrook. You must be relieved to see fellow English. You reside in France, if I remember correctly." He nodded, "I have a home in Paris; however, I mainly stay in French court."

You smiled awkwardly, looking around for an escape from this conversation. "I heard you'll be marrying the king's bastard. I would think that a princess should be getting married to a person with a title. Perhaps France's alliance with Scotland is much hollower than it appears?" He smirked. You looked back at him, "I don't know what you're talking about." He leaned in closer to you, "I'm saying that you should head back to Scotland with your sister before the English carry out certain...plans." You raised an eyebrow, backing up, "Are you threatening me and my country?"

As Simon was about to respond, you felt an arm wrap around your shoulders. You looked over and saw Bash, who was smiling at you before saying, "I've been looking for you. Let's go dance." He pulled you away from Simon before you could protest. Your hands were shaking and Bash turned you towards him, "Calm down, you're safe here. Don't show them you're scared." You looked up at him, muttering, "But he threatened me and my sister..." He nodded and kissed your cheek, "I know. If you look scared, though, he'll know he had an effect on you. Trust me, okay?" You nodded and closed your eyes, leaning your forehead against his. He smiled and hugged you, "Let's go dance..." You nodded slightly and he led you to the dance floor. 

Bash started to lead you in a dance, twirling you around. You giggled as he purposefully danced off the rhythm; he grinned, "Now there's the smile I love to see." You blushed, smiling, "Oh stop it, people are staring!" He dipped you, looking into your eyes with an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips, "Then let them. I'd much rather have fun than dance  _properly._ Wouldn't you agree?" You laughed as he lifted you back up and into the air, spinning you around. You gripped his shoulders to avoid falling as he looked up at you, slowly setting you back on the ground. 

Once you were back on the ground, his lips came to yours in a short, sweet kiss. You pulled away from each other, both grinning. However, you saw Francis storming out of the room out of the corner of your eye. You looked in that direction, frowning slightly. Bash gently tilted your face towards his again, "What is it? What's wrong?" You shook your head slightly, smiling again, "It's...it's nothing." He smiled and kissed your forehead, "Good. Do you want to get out of this stuffy ballroom for awhile?" You smiled, "Depends on what you have in mind...we aren't married yet."

He grinned cheekily and pulled you out of the room, "Ah, yes. I can't wait till we are." You blushed and playfully hit his arm, "Bash!" He laughed and walked to a couch by a window, sitting on it with you. You smiled and leaned into him, his arm wrapping around your shoulders. You watched the stars lighting the night sky outside, laying your head on his shoulder, "I could watch the sky forever...how is it that both night and day are so beautiful?" He smiled, softly kissing the top of your head, "I'm not sure but you shouldn't spend all your days watching the sky." Suddenly, you felt your eyelids grow heavy and your vision quickly faded to black. The last thing you heard was Bash, "(Y/N)?...."

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_You woke up in a completely different place that felt oddly familiar. You glanced around and saw machines surrounding you, tubes connected to your arms, and heard a consistent beeping sound. **Where am I? This isn't the castle...**  You heard someone stirring next to you before they gasped, "(Y/N)! You're alive! I was so worried...it's been nearly a month!" You tried to sit up, only to discover a pounding headache. You groaned, returning to your original position, "What's going on?" The person next to you raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean (Y/N)? Did you forget the car crash or something? You've been in the hospital since then...you were in a coma" You were extremely confused._

_As you tried to figure out what was going on, you heard soft sounds coming from above you. You looked up and saw the castle, "Bash? Francis...?" The person next to you laughed, "Wow..you just woke up and you're already thinking about Reign. I guess they're airing an old episode right now. It isn't exactly the regular time for a new episode." Your eyebrows furrowed, **she makes it sound like Bash and Francis aren't real...** While you pondered what they had said, they continued speaking, "Oh it's my favorite episode too...I mean, it's only the first episode. But just the looks on Bash's and Francis' faces when Mary is dancing...Torrance and Toby definitely my favorites." They laughed. Meanwhile, you were just wondering who the heck 'Torrance' and 'Toby' were, "Who are Torrance and Toby...?" _

_You heard a sigh, "Okay, okay. I get it; you like to pretend that Bash and Francis are real. Just admit it, though, Bash and Francis are characters. They aren't real, alright?" You frowned, **they seemed pretty real to me...what is this place?** You could feel your vision fading again and the person next you started yelling, "(Y/N)! No, no, no, stay with me! We need a doctor in here!" You heard a loud beep before your vision went black once more._

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You sat up quickly, breathing heavily. Both Francis and Bash rushed over to you, Mary beat them to you, though, and she grinned, "(Y/N)! You're awake again! I was so worried..." You blinked rapidly, trying to figure out what was going on. You smiled slightly and muttered, "Y-yeah...I'm fine." Mary gently patted your shoulder, "Do you know what happened? Bash said you suddenly passed out." You shook your head, "I have no idea. How long have I been out?" Mary frowned and looked at you, "3 days..." Your eyebrows furrowed, "Then that means..." Bash nodded, "The wedding was postponed...since you couldn't be there yesterday, of course." You frowned and looked over at Bash, "Oh no, I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened." 

Mary sat at the foot of the bed, "Well what's done is done. Bash, Francis, can we have some privacy for a moment?" They both nodded and walked out together, leaving you and Mary alone. You looked at her, "What is it Mary? Why did you want them to leave?" She looked down, "About your marriage..." You raised an eyebrow as she hesitated, "Say it Mary." She sighed and spoke quickly, "Mother decided it would be better if you married the English diplomat. You remember Simon, right?" You stood up, "Wait...after all this trouble, I'm not even getting married to Bash and instead getting married to _him_?" Mary sighed and nodded, "Our uncle was here negotiating terms with the king while you were...asleep."

You started pacing, "No one thought that I might want a sa-.." You cut yourself off when you remembered your thoughts from earlier, _I should listen to mother_. Mary raised an eyebrow, "What is it? Why the abrupt stop?" You shook your head, "I'll do whatever is necessary. You and mother know far more about the Scotland and England issues than I do. If you agree that this is a good plan then...I suppose that...I'll marry him." She got up, "I know it isn't desirable and I know of your feelings. However, I appreciate your understanding and willingness." You looked at her, "Does Bash know? Does Francis?" She shook her head and looked at her feet, "They aren't aware, no." You groaned, "I suppose you expect me to tell them then?" She laughed nervously, "It would be appreciated..."


	11. Chapter 8

You were sitting in your chambers, messing with your hair. _What am I going to tell Bash? This is a mess already...why'd I make that stupid decision to do whatever mom wanted..._ While you were lost in your thoughts, you heard a soft knock. _Oh what is it now,_ you thought, "Come in!" You looked up in the mirror as you brushed your hair, seeing Bash walk up behind you. He touched your shoulder as you turned around, "Is everything alright? You've been avoiding me since you spoke with Mary after the...incident." You forced a smile on your face, "Everything's fine. But um, Bash?" He nodded, gesturing for you to continue, "I have something to tell you."

He raised an eyebrow, "What is it?" You looked down at your hands in your lap, picking at your fingernails, "It's about the wedding..." He looked even more confused, "What about it? Are you worried? It'll be fine. I promise I'm not that ba-" You cut off his rambling by getting up and cupping his face in your hands,  "It's not you, I swear. There's just been a...change in plans. Bash, I'm sorry, but my mother has decided I'll be marrying Simon instead." He looked briefly panicked before he laughed, his laugh seeming forced, "You're joking...right? Please tell me you're joking..." You shook your head, "Bash...I'm sorry."

He simply took your hands off his face, briskly walking out of the room. You sat back down, holding your head in your hands. You knew it was useless to go after him because there was nothing either of you could do at this point. 

**Bash's POV:**

"...I'll be marrying Simon instead," I distantly heard her words. Everything else seemed to go away, all I could focus on was her; I registered that I was speaking but I wasn't entirely sure what I was saying. She shook her head and I knew that I had to get away as quickly as possible; I moved her hands off my face, still able to feel the warmth of her hands on my cheeks, and walked out of the room. 

I kept walking till I found myself in the wine cellar; I sighed and grabbed a bottle before heading to the spot that I sat with her the other night. After sitting down on the couch, I glanced out the window. As I watched the sky, thinking about how perfect everything seemed before, I drank nearly the entire bottle over a short period of time. I laughed, thinking to myself, _why would something good happen to **me** of all people? I should have seen this coming. _ I heard footsteps coming towards me, while looking up I saw Mary. 

I looked back out the window, drinking more, "I suppose you've heard already." She nodded and took the bottle from me, "I have. In fact, I was the one who delivered the news to (Y/N). I imagine you're upset?" I looked over at her, "And if I was? It wouldn't change anything. She would still be getting married to another man." She turned towards me, whispering, "I'm upset by this too. I was hoping that perhaps you'd help me...get rid of Simon. My mother is delusional thinking that marrying an English diplomat would help the situation; personally, I think it makes it worse."

I raised an eyebrow, "Then what do you need my help with, your grace?" She grinned, "I need you to find out what you can about Simon and why he's here. I'll speak with (Y/N) and see if he tells her anything. Thank you Bash, I just knew you'd help." I sighed as she got up and walked away, wondering aloud to myself, "Why do I always put myself into dangerous situations for her?"

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**Your POV:**

Later that day, you were at the picnic for Charles and Madeleine and hoping that Simon wouldn't find you. He was currently the last person you wanted to see, _except for maybe Francis or Bash...that moment earlier was heartbreaking enough._ You were walking around, staying on the outside of the picnic. As you were watching the game Charles and Madeleine were playing with a few other children around their age, you smiled fondly and wished you had memories of your childhood. From what Mary had told you while she had been reminiscing, you had played similar games with her and Francis when you were younger. While walking, you lost track of where Simon was and felt a hand on your shoulder. You looked back and saw him, you faked a smile, "What is it?"

"Well, _dear_ , I was hoping you'd walk with me. I have some things to discuss with you," He looked down at you. You shook your head, "Maybe later. I want to be alone right now." He grasped your arm firmly, "Perhaps I wasn't clear. You will walk with me and listen to what I have to say." You looked up at him, "Excuse me?" He started walking, pulling you along with him. You tried to pull your arm away from his grip, resulting in him pulling you closer. He looked at you, "Clearly, you need to learn to listen. A good wife does what her husband tells her to do." You frowned, "Why are you acting like this?" He smirked, "I have a feeling you're going to want to be more agreeable. You cooperating with this marriage is the only thing saving your country at the moment." You frowned, _oh yeah...that_.

You resumed your fake smile after that statement,  "What is it you wish to speak with me about?" He looked around, acting like nothing was wrong, "Well. I need you to forget about the two brothers you seem to hold a certain...affection for." You looked away from him, "And if I don't?" He sighed, "I'd have to take some unfortunate actions that wouldn't be good for either of us." You weren't sure what that threat meant, all you knew was that you should listen to what he says. _That will be difficult, how am I supposed to forget Francis and Bash?_ You realized he was still speaking, "Am I being clear?" You sighed and nodded, not noticing Bash listening to that entire conversation and leaving to tell Mary. Unfortunately for you ~~and Bash~~ , Simon noticed him leaving quite quickly.

**Bash's POV:**

After I heard Simon threatening (Y/N), I tried to run off as quietly as possible to go find Mary. I saw Mary standing with Francis, her gaze finally met mine and I gestured for her to follow me. She nodded and said something to Francis, walking over to me. She looked at me, standing next to me, "What is it? Did you learn anything?" I sighed, crossing my arms, "I didn't quite hear anything specific. However, I heard him threatening her. It was something about Francis and I." Mary pursed her lips, "Well that doesn't sound good. I'm not sure if that's enough though. Find Simon, see if you can find anything else out." I nod, looking around for Simon. 

As Mary was walking away, I saw Simon walking inside. _That's suspicious_ , I thought, _why would he go in there? No one will be inside right now..._ I immediately followed after him, my hand hovering around the handle of my sword. When I got inside, I continued following Simon. I found it strange that he walked into father's chambers. _What is he doing? Is he looking for something?_ I peered around the door, seeing him digging through various drawers. My eyes narrowed, I walked in, "What are you doing in here?"

He looked up, "I could ask you the same thing." My hand was wrapped around the grip of my sword, "Answer the question, Simon. Why are you in here?" He smirked, "Oh...I was simply making sure your unsigned marriage contract with my wife-to-be was destroyed. I wouldn't want that getting in my way. Also, I would recommend taking your hand off of your sword." My hand faltered briefly, a few seconds later, though, I gripped the sword even tighter. Simon sighed, "You hero types never know when to leave it be, do you? Accept it. The girl isn't yours," he then grabbed and drew his own sword. 

I backed up, quickly drawing my sword, "Aren't you supposed to be a diplomat?" He shrugged, "Yes but when a man's possessions are threatened, however, he has to take action." I sneered, "She isn't a possession. If you're going to hurt me. Get it over with just leave her alone." He laughed, "Oh I'm not planning to hurt you, I'd make a much bigger statement if your little brother had a 'battle' wound. Or maybe the girl, then I could blame you; now ** _that_** would be interesting." I dashed forward and swung my sword at him, letting my emotions control me again. He parried the blow, counter-attacking with a strike to my stomach. Time seemed to slow down as his sword neared my abdomen.

I felt the sword break my skin, falling backwards with the impact of the hit. I  fell to the ground on my knees, he retracted his sword and I covered the wound with my hand. My eyes were wide as I felt the blood flow. I hardly registered the world around me and I heard a single voice. _**Her**_ voice. _What is she saying?_ "Bash!" She said and that time I heard her clearly. My vision started to go blurry and I could see her running over time. I started to lean backwards and I could feel her catch me, holding me in her arms. I smiled up at her and closed my eyes. The world then went black around me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, hey guys! I'm extremely sorry for not updating sooner. AP tests are difficult to prepare for :/ Anyways, I'll try to get more written this weekend but I'm not sure if I'll be able to publish it. I'll try to get something up during the week if I'm not too busy with AP Physics! Thank you so so much for reading and sticking with me! I hope you're enjoying it so far! The next chapter will be much more fluffy, I promise! Sorry for the heavy-ish chapter heh. Also, please check out a quick poll I did. I was just curious if you guys were interested in me making a shipping blog on tumblr. Here's the link: https://www.quotev.com/quiz/9398354/Shipping-blog)


	12. Chapter 9

**Your POV:**

        The guards began to stream into the room due to the noise, you gently set Bash down before running out. Running away from Simon. You went to find Mary, determined to tell her what happened. You knew that she would be the only one able to talk to mother about leaving the alliance with the English 'diplomat', _if he can even be called that_. You felt the tears threatening to fall, running quickly to her chambers. You struggled to find your footing, using the wall as support along the way.

        Once you arrived, you knocked loudly on her chamber door. She opened the door and saw your solemn expression, "Oh (Y/N)...come in," She softly gripped your shoulders, pulling you into the room. After she shut the door behind the two of you, you collapsed onto one of her chairs and became expressionless due to shock. She sat across from you, looking concerned, "What happened?" You looked up at her, "It's...it's Bash. Simon, he uh...he stabbed him." She frowned, falling silent because she knew anything she'd say would only make it worse.

        You looked up at her, pleading, "Mary please, I need to get out of this marriage. Simon isn't a good man." Mary nodded, "I know. I didn't agree with mother in the first place, I'll talk to her." You barely smiled, "Thank you.." She placed a hand on your shoulder, "Everything will be okay. I'm sure Nostradamus will take care of Bash and he'll be back on his feet soon." You nodded. She sat back, knowing what you wanted to do at the moment, "I would recommend seeing him and making sure that he will be well, while I write to mother." You got up, "Thank you, Mary."

        She watched as you walked out of the room, proceeding to write a letter about the events of the afternoon. You found yourself confronted with Bash, who remained unconscious, sooner than you thought. _I must've been more dazed than I imagined_. The tears that had threatened to spill when you first saw Bash injured began to fall down your cheeks. Your head rested in your hands while you let the tears fall, sitting in a chair next to the bed.

        You didn't register the door softly creaking open and closed while you let out your emotions. You didn't notice the footsteps behind you. You only snapped out of your reverie when the hand fell softly on your shoulder. Without looking up, you immediately knew who it was after they spoke. "He wouldn't want you to cry, (Y/N)." You nodded, "I know, Francis, I can't help it."

        He took your hands, pulling you up before kissing your knuckles softly, "Is there any way I could help?" You looked up at Francis, "Stay with me?" He nodded and kissed the top of your head. You hugged him, resting your head on his shoulder. Francis stroked your hair, swaying slightly with you in an attempt to calm you down. 

        You kissed his shoulder gently, whispering to him, "Thank you." He remained silent for awhile, simply holding you in his arms, before looking at you, "Do you want to go somewhere else? I can tell it pains you to be here." You finally looked up from his shoulder, sighing, "Do you honestly believe that's a good idea? Someone could see us..." He frowned, "Where did this doubt come from?" You shook your head, avoiding his questioning gaze, "Never mind. It's nothing." A few moments passed in a tense silence before you stepped back, holding your hand out for him, "You're...right. I need to get my mind off of this whole thing. Come with me. Please."

        He glanced at you, questioningly, before he sighed and gave in. He took your hand and, without another word, you began walking to your chambers.

~~~~~~

        Your walk was filled with silence, neither of you finding the right words to comfort each other or create a distraction. After you reached your bedroom door, you pulled Francis inside; you were hoping for a moment of reprieve from your grief. Therefore, as the door closed, your lips met Francis'. He cupped your cheek in his hand and his other fell to rest on your waist, holding you close. However, as you tried to deepen the kiss, Francis stepped back, "What are you doing?" You hugged yourself, your tears beginning again, "I don't want to think about him." 

        Francis sighed and took you by the arm to pull you into a hug, "I understand but you're not in the right mindset for this, you'd only regret it later." You didn't respond, simply resting your head on his chest. He picked you up, carrying you to a couch in the arm and sitting with you. The next moments was filled with more stifling silence, the only sound was an occasional sob. You felt the light touch of Francis' lips on the top of your head and it was followed by his hand softly stroking your hair.

        You sat up properly, looking him in the eye, "This may be a poor time to tell you this...but I don't think I'll be able to handle absolute quiet for much longer..." Francis noticed your hesitation and held your cheek once more, running his thumb over a stray tear, "Say it."

        You quietly exhaled before continuing your statement, "I'm going to be marrying Bash. Not Simon. Which means I'll still be here in French court but we..." He finished your sentence for you, saying what you couldn't, "Can't be together?" You nodded. He looked away, muttering barely loud enough for you to hear, "This most likely makes me an awful person for even considering this but...we could still continue to be together." You didn't want to consider his suggestion, not wanting to do this to Bash while he was currently lying in a medical bed, unconscious, but your mind wandered to the possibilities of continuing whatever _this_ was with Francis. You abruptly stood up, "We shouldn't be doing this. Someone will find us." Francis also got up, about to say something as you ran out of the room to return to Bash's side.

~~~~~~

        It had been a couple days, or weeks (you had lost count of how many days), now and you hadn't left Bash's side since you told Francis you couldn't be with him anymore. You weren't sure if it was guilt or sadness that kept you glued to his side whilst he remained unconscious but, nevertheless, you stayed there through all hours of the day. Unfortunately, Bash still hadn't awoken. It appeared that your prior worries hadn't been entirely invalid. 

        As your hope was beginning to diminish that he would ever awaken, you noticed that his nose twitched slightly under your dazed stare. You blinked a couple times, sitting up straighter; not entirely trusting your eyes. You were convinced that it was simply a sleepy illusion you had conjured. You relaxed once more, resting your chin on the palm of your hand as your elbow pressed against your knee. Your dull state was quickly disrupted by the action of Bash softly breathing in. You carefully watched him, eyes full to the brim with hope. Seconds seemed to become minutes and minutes became hours as you desperately waited for any sign that he was awake. 

        You weren't sure how much time had passed when he finally opened his eyes. When he did, though, you were in shock for a few moments. After all that waiting, all the guilt and pain you endured over the days, you weren't quite able to believe it was all over. However, you felt his hand shakily slide onto one of your own that had been resting on the bed. 

        "You're awake," you were simply pointing out the obvious in your overly shocked state. You received a faint "yes" in response to your ridiculous statement. Figuring Bash needed a few moments to collect himself following a coma, you didn't say anything else. Your singular promise for silence was quickly broken by Mary walking into the room; you glanced up at the sound of her confident footsteps. She noticed that Bash was now a part of your reality once more and smiled, "Wonderful. I only need to share this news once, then." Your head tilted to the side, thoughts overcome with confusion and nervousness, "What news?"

"You two are to be wed as soon as Bash is ready."

        Her _news_ only caused even more confusion to arise; while you understood she was _attempting_ to persuade mother into agreeing to switch your engagement from Simon to Bash once more, you didn't think she would actually be successful so soon. When you looked over at Bash, it was abundantly clear that his thoughts were similar to yours. You turned to Mary again, saying, "How did you convince mother so quickly?" Mary laughed at your question, "Dear sister, nothing about that was quick. You've been in here for over a week, nearly two, waiting for him to wake. Additionally, I made sure the letters on both sides were received as quickly as possible."

        While you knew you had spent many hours here, hearing it out loud seemed like a whole new burden to bear. You hadn't entirely realized how likely it was that you could've lost Bash. During your sudden realization, you could distantly hear Mary congratulating the two of you and brief statements about the numerous amount of planning yet to be done. 

        It was unbeknownst to you how long you were processing your thoughts but, when you finally worked through the shocking realization of how close you were to losing Bash, Mary was pulling you out of the room to help her with the planning. You reluctantly followed her with the knowledge that Mary was more stubborn than anyone you've ever met, you wouldn't ever be able to escape planning with her if she had already decided she needed your help. At the very least, you could find solace in the fact that some details had already been arranged from the previous attempt at a wedding between you and Bash.

~~~~~~

        The planning for the wedding had finally been completed and you were free to spend your time with Bash. His recovery had been quick so far. He was gaining more and more strength every day and the wound was slowly healing. The morning you entered the room and found him walking comfortably, however, alerted you that the wedding would most likely occur today or tomorrow. 

        A pang of guilt ran through you as you found yourself not wanting this marriage to happen. A part of you still clung to your love for Francis. You stifled that feeling with a smile, knowing that any disagreement from you would only cause severe trouble for everyone involved. Your entry was soon followed by Mary's; everyday following Bash's awakening and her news, she had been checking up on his state of well-being due to a strong desire for the wedding to occur before your mother could change her mind once more. You looked over your shoulder at her and found that she had a grin on her face, "Bash, I see you're walking. How are you feeling? Are you feeling well enough for the wedding?" He looked at you and then proceeded to look at Mary, "I believe I'll be ready tomorrow." 

She grinned, "Tomorrow it is then!"

~~~~~~

        You woke the next morning, seeing the warm light streaming through the window to light the floor. The soothing sounds of birds chirping and the feel of a morning breeze sent a great sensation of calmness flowing through you. Your pretense of relaxation for the day was sharply interrupted by a knock on your door that coincided with the remembrance of your wedding that would happen near the end of the day. Before you could even answer to the knock at your door, Mary was already walking in, "Come on, sister. You need to get up so I can get you ready."

        You sat up, looking as grumpy as one usually does when waking up. Instead of respecting your need for "five more minutes", she merely laughed and strolled over to your bed. Rather than letting you lay back down, she swiftly pulled you out of bed with a strong grip on your wrist. You groaned as your feet hit the floor, "But the wedding isn't till later...five more minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt anyone." Mary continued to ignore you and, after making sure you were still standing, she went to your wardrobe to get the wedding dress that had been sitting in there for weeks. 

        Despite the resistance from you, Mary eventually got you ready for the wedding. The whole look felt very overdone to you, you were happy with simply the dress. Mary was right that you need those five minutes, though, because it was nearly time for the wedding and you were just now getting your shoes on. As you were stumbling over the struggle of putting on shoes, Mary was escorting you to the room for the wedding. 

        Minutes later, you were there. It was really happening. Your thoughts couldn't quite form whether you were excited or frightened. The only thing that was clear for you was that it was far too late to back out. If your own guilt didn't consume you, your mother's wrath surely would. Thus, with Mary behind you, you watched as the doors opened and you were confronted by the crowd. Your eyes immediately met with Bash's across the room. Seeing him calmed you down, your previous doubts were still there but had been diminished. So far, as long as you had been with him, everything had somehow resulted in this moment. 

        Those first steps were the hardest you'd ever make, despite the encompassing sense of happiness you were feeling. Time seemed to slow as you made it to the wedding altar. You honestly couldn't hear anything the priest was saying, your eyes focused on Bash. Now essentially working on autopilot, you joined hands with Bash and said the necessary vows. When it was time to sign the marriage contract, you quivered as you took the quill. You could see Bash's messy signature as you signed your name. The first letter of your name appeared shaky, your composure not coming in till later. You knew your marriage was official now, this wasn't something you could merely _leave_ if you became unhappy. 

        Your sudden anxiety overcame you as you exited, Bash's hand gently coming to your shoulder to comfort your nervous state of being. The comfort you knew you did not deserve while you still loved your new husband's brother. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally did it! It took me way longer than it should have but here you go. It's slightly longer than it was originally going to be so hopefully that makes up for it? Sorry, I'm a horrible procrastinator and I was distracted with my new writing blog, if you want to read one-shots or anything check out justcallmesailor.tumblr.com btw. I promise I'll include more Francis soon, the full on romance with him didn't seem right till I, at least somewhat, wrapped the Bash storyline up. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Bye for now, I don't know how long it'll be till the next chapter honestly.


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